In May 2013 a four-day workshop in the city of Gyumri, Armenia was organized. In these series of workshops there were 20 participants from Turkey and 15 participants from Armenia between the ages 18-29. Some of the participants have previously met in a workshop organized by a youth organization in Turkey and they wanted to come together again to work through and problematize the narratives of prejudice and otherification that are handed down form one generation to the other in a safe space through Augusto Boal’s theater of the oppressed work. Sharing a common artistic and cultural background the two groups were also hoping to be able to imagine a common future together through Boal’s work. The participants were also expecting to create and acquire a new language during these workshops through which they could get into a healthy dialogue and find ways to transform their realities in their communities.

The main theme that emerged at the end of the workshops through the forum pieces could be summoned under the title of borders and impossible unions. The first forum play addressed the tragedy of a woman with a baby who was abandoned by her husband and could not get together with her loved one because of social pressure. The other play was concerned about the impossible love between an Armenian woman and Turkish man because of the closed border between two countries and the rupture of their future dreams. The last forum play dealt with the tough decision a young Armenian woman had to take to leave her country and her family behind in order to work in Turkey. The Image theater examples addressed sexually oriented violence and the theme of visible and invisible of borders.

At the end of the workshop, theater, music and dance emerged as a common theme.